Upbeat Lambert will focus on positives

PUBLISHED: 10:51 29 September 2009 | UPDATED: 14:20 06 July 2010

Paul Lambert insists the positives outweigh the negatives as the Canaries attempt to end a four-game winless run tonight. City have had to rely on late, late goals to salvage draws in their last two outings, but two home games in the space of five days - beginning against Leyton Orient tonight - could see them shoot up the table.

Paul Lambert insists the positives outweigh the negatives as the Canaries attempt to end a four-game winless run tonight.

City have had to rely on late, late goals to salvage draws in their last two outings, but two home games in the space of five days - beginning against Leyton Orient tonight - could see them shoot up the table.

"What's happened in the last two games has been brilliant, everybody sees it," he said. "The fans see it, which is really important to us. They saw a team that has not wilted.

"That's as well as we've played since I've been here on Saturday.

"You can say we've not won - but it's only one in six where we've been beaten, so there are two ways to look at it - and I always look at the positive side of it."

While the top two, Leeds and Charlton, appear to be running away with it, the gap between City and a play-off position is only five points - and that, says Lambert, is an incentive.

"Of course it is, for a club this size," he said. "The club should be better than what it is, that's for sure.

"You need luck, of course you do. You need luck for something to happen, but luck will only take you so far. It's the same group of lads who were here at the start of the season who I am pretty sure if you ask a lot of people they will see a lot of difference in."

Victory tonight and then a repeat over Saturday's visitors Bristol Rovers, who are currently third in the table, would go a long way to helping City reach Lambert's only target.

"You always put pressure on yourself to get out of the league and that's not changed, not changed one bit - just to get out of the league," he said.

City were indebted to Darel Russell for an injury-time equaliser at Gillingham on Saturday - a week after Grant Holt performed the same trick at home to Charlton - with City reduced to 10 men after the first-half sending off of goalkeeper Fraser Forster.

"As I said to them at half-time you're going to get a chance here, no matter if you're down to 10 men you always have a chance against somebody," he said.

"Everything went against us - the penalty, Jon (Otsemobor) coming off, young Declan going in. But for effort, absolutely brilliant it was."

Lambert has already faced Leyton Orient once this season when, as manager of Colchester, the Londoners dumped his team, out of the Carling Cup.

"It is a tough game, it always is - any team coming to Norwich is tough, it doesn't matter who it is," he said.